WASHINGTON — The U.S. House easily approved an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program on Wednesday, a week before it would lapse. But quick action in the Senate is unlikely, leaving uncertainty through the end of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Last year’s massive hurricanes strained the program, which has only about $10 billion left on its credit line unless Congress acts.

At 5 million policies, the program provides $1.3 trillion in coverage for 90 percent of the U.S. flood insurance market. Estimates from Hurricane Harvey last year show payouts to property owners — most in southeast Texas — will hit $11 billion.

But the program is “unsustainable,” said Dallas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, who has long complained that it encourages development in flood zones while providing payouts over and over for the same flood-prone properties.

The House voted 366-52 to extend the program through Nov. 30. Hensarling was on the losing side.

Even if Congress lets authorization for the program lapse, policyholders would still be able to submit claims and receive payments. But renewals would be blocked. New policies couldn't be issued.

Congress has temporarily extended the program six times since December. The House passed a five-year package 237-189 in November, but that bill remains untouched in the Senate.

That legislation — which is also supported by the White House — would make it easier to end coverage for properties that repeatedly flood and lower the cap on annual premium increases. It also would make it easier for private insurers to provide flood coverage.

By last year, the debt reached nearly $25 billion and it maxed out after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. In November, Congress canceled $16 billion. The debt now stands at $20.5 billion.

Another devastating season could push the program back to the cap and require another taxpayer bailout.

“It's just rather disappointing that again we face the seventh time, the seventh time of not reforming a program that has no market competition, that is fiscally unsustainable,” Hensarling — who chairs the House Financial Services Committee — said on the floor of the House on Tuesday.

He called it a “government monopoly” and railed against the “troubled” program in an email to colleagues obtained by The Dallas Morning News.

“The NFIP does not accurately measure or charge for flood risk, which means that tens of thousands of its policyholders are lulled into a false sense of security when they are really in harm’s way,” he wrote. “The program also creates perverse incentives to build and rebuild homes in flood-prone areas.”

These “multiple-loss properties” account for less than 2 percent of policies but 30 percent of claims — amounting to $17 billion over the program’s lifetime.

The Senate farm bill approved last month includes a flood program extension without reforms through January. But the House and Senate haven’t yet worked out their differences on the farm bill, and there’s no plan to do so before the flood program is set to lapse on Tuesday.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican majority whip, said the Senate has no plans to address the flood program in any other legislation, according to the Washington Examiner — meaning there’s a possibility the program will lapse.

The House will be on recess throughout August. The Senate will break for one week, then return for the rest of the month.

The White House announced its support on Tuesday for “efforts to ensure the program does not lapse” in addition to “reforms to the program to ensure its long-term viability.”

The program has already lapsed twice this year, for two days in January and eight hours in February. If the Senate does not approve the reauthorization in the next six days, it will lapse again.

A lapse that prevents agents from issuing new policies could disrupt real estate markets in areas where flood insurance is a must, Rubio wrote in the Tampa Bay Times last week.

“We cannot allow this type of uncertainty in the middle of hurricane season,” he wrote.

Hensarling's argument

Hensarling agreed that allowing a lapse is not ideal, but argued in his email to colleagues that it’s more important to update the program.

He cited two short-term options that also update the flood program — the Royce-Blumenauer bill, which would require communities that regularly flood to write a plan on how to reduce risks, and the Ross-Castor bill, which would to open the market to private insurers and could be coupled with a reauthorization.

“I cannot in good conscience look another flood victim in the eye this summer and tell them a reform-less date change was the best Congress could do,” he wrote colleagues.

Five other Texas Republicans joined Hensarling in opposing the temporary extension: Reps. Joe Barton of Arlington, Mike Conaway of Midland, Sam Johnson of Plano, John Ratcliffe of Heath and Roger Williams of Austin.

Scalise criticized Hensarling’s unwillingness to compromise.

“We can't play some game of chicken with the lives of millions of families,” he said on the House floor on Tuesday, noting that all 50 states participate in the program.